“We’re trying to use him as a poster child for what can happen to animals who are abused,” she said.

She plans to use the $1,500 prize to pay for other animals’ veterinary bills.

The contest, held at the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds in Petaluma, Calif., is in its 26th year.

The dogs are scored by a three-judge panel in several categories, including special or unusual attributes, personality and natural ugliness.

The past five winners have included a duck-footed beagle, boxer and basset hound mix with a waddle, a Chinese crested and Chihuahua mix with a protruding tongue and short tufts of hair and a Chihuahua with a missing eye and a camel’s back.